James River Bridge grid deck work complete

Installation of more than 120,000 metal studs onto the grid deck of the James River Bridge is complete, more than three weeks ahead of schedule, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation.

The project was finished Friday, Oct. 11, VDOT said.

After a string of more than 20 auto accidents on the new steel grid deck, which was installed in December of 2012, VDOT elected to install the 3/8-inch metal studs in an effort to boost traction on the structure. The majority of the crashes occurred on the southbound side of the bridge's grid deck.

On July 1, Kayla Williams, an Isle of Wight woman, was involved in an accident when her Ford SUV crashed on the grid deck into a median. She died a day later.

The department said the stud installation would cost more than $1 million. Corman Construction Inc, handled the project, largely working at night and implementing single-lane closures on the bridge's grid deck.

"As part of the final work, brief bridge lifts are being planned to test the counterbalance weights on the bridge span," the agency said in a news release. VDOT said the test lifts will be announced once a schedule is confirmed.

This isn't the first time VDOT has installed studs on a grid deck on the James River Bridge. In the 1980's the agency also had studs installed after a series of similar crashes during wet weather. Brooke Grow, a VDOT spokeswoman, said the total costs of installing studs on the bridge's grid deck have not been "finalized yet" because the rebalancing the counterweights hadn't been completed. Stud installation work began in mid-September.

For now, Grow said VDOT will continue to post a 45 mph advisory speed limit on the grid deck of the bridge during inclement weather and also keep in place additional striping and signage, installed this summer in response to the crashes.

VDOT entered into a contract with Virginia State Police to provide state troopers on the bridge's grid deck during inclement weather while the stud installation was being performed, but Grow said that would now be discontinued.

"The state police presence was a temporary measure until completion of the stud installation," Grow said.

Virginia State Police and VDOT were not able to immediately provide statistics on how many, if any, accidents had occurred on the grid deck since July, when VDOT decided to install the studs.

Grow said Corman Construction had a financial incentive of $5,000 per day, up to $100,000 for finishing the work ahead of schedule.